Category: VA Updates

Welcome to this month’s update! I hope you are well and keeping safe.

After over a year’s development, vAMSYS have released their very own custom ACARS! Pegasus allows pilots to track flights, view bookings, view live flights as well as read VA specific alerts. Pegasus also gives you the choice of light and dark mode as well as rich presence on Discord. The vRYR team would like to congratulate Team vAMSYS – Anna especially – for reaching yet another incredible milestone as they continue to make vAMSYS an even greater virtual airline management platform for virtual airlines. You can download Pegasus by going to vAMSYS – Resources – Pegasus. Feel free to drop your feedback in our Discord server!

Secondly, a shout out to Filipe Spring for winning the October screenshot competition! His screenshot will now feature across our Facebook, Twitter and vAMSYS pages for the duration of November. We’ll be sending over 250 bonus points to Filipe! You can view the screenshot in the Discord server, and it’ll soon feature across our social platforms.

Now for some general stats for those who are interested. In October we welcomed over 140 new pilots to Virtual Ryanair! Welcome to our community and be sure to introduce yourself in our Discord server. October saw the likes of over 4,600 PIREPs and over 870,000 points dished out to pilots! It’s been yet another busy month with over 730,000 passengers flown across Europe in 31 days!

Over the last six weeks, our Routes Team have worked their socks off to meet the winter routes update. It’s been a busy few weeks for the team and George and I really do appreciate their hard work to achieve this.

November and December are usually two busier months here at vRYR. Over the next few weeks, we will be increasing the amount of events and focus airports as well as a festive tour – to be announced sometime in November! What do you think about our festive logo?

We always appreciate your feedback on how we’re doing as a virtual airline, and we always love your thoughts on what we can do to make vRYR an even better community. If you’re not part of our Discord server, head to our website and click on ‘Discord’ in the navigation bar. It’s been some time since we ran a pilot survey, but your thoughts and comments really do matter to us.

Last week we released a poll to gather some feedback on how we should continue to operate during COVID-19. Due to Ryanair operating a limited schedule through the Winter, it will mean we have less real-world flight data available to us. As of November 6th, the poll has now closed for pilots and staff. We will update you over the next few days as to how we will continue to operate.

As always – thank you for flying vRYR! Keep safe and see you in December!

Hello and welcome to this month’s vRYR update! It’s hard to believe we’re now in October, with just 92 days until the start of a new year. I hope you are well and keeping safe.

In September, 176 new pilots joined vRYR. Last month’s pilots have already booked and flown over a thousand flights! Furthermore, we awarded 703,841 points in September; which works out at 977 points awarded every hour during the month!

As we enter Autumn, it’s time for us to begin planning for the big route update! Over the next few weeks, the Routes team will be hard at work moving vRYR onto the W20 schedule. You’ll begin to see routes ending and new routes starting. As always, if you spot any mistakes or issues, please leave a line in Discord and one of the Routes Managers/Team Leaders will be happy to assist.

In September, we announced the recruitment of two brand-new positions; Community Managers and Operations Assistants. We have received some awesome applications and we want to thank everyone who expressed their interest in either of these roles. We’re now shortlisting candidates for the next stage, and George will be in contact with those candidates in the next few weeks ahead.

As we head into October, the Routes Teams will be hard at work with the big route update. This transition will see the ending of Summer routes, and the introduction of our Winter route schedule. It’s a huge move, with thousands of routes being updated, removed and added. As always, if you spot any mistakes or missing routes, drop a line in the Discord server and we’ll be happy to help.

As part of our pilot engagement strategy, we’re looking to recruit brand-new Community Managers and Operations Assistants to join the Operations Team.

These brand-new positions will help us deliver better flight operations and continue to bring our excellent community together.

For more information, head to our Discord server!

We’re pleased to announce a brand-new partnership with Virtual Aerospace. With locations in Shoreham, Bacup, Northampton and Sussex, Virtual Aerospace are the largest flight simulation experience company in the UK. They cater to the professional pilots seeking commercial training, as well as those pursuing a 1 on 1 flight simulator experience; either in the B738 or A320!

Partnering with Virtual Aerospace gives vRYR pilots 20% discount on fixed base, and 10% discount on full motion products as listed on their website. Virtual Aerospace simulators can also be connected to the IVAO network if you desire the ultimate experience!

Visit their website: https://www.virtual-aerospace.com/

To make use of the discount, you must be aged 21 and above for insurance purposes. For more information, please get in touch with Jack Wilkinson (vRYR Operations Director) at jack@vryr.eu.

Hello, and welcome to the vRYR September update! I hope you’re all well and staying safe.

In August, we resumed our monthly updates. It’s a great way of learning more about our virtual airline, if you’re interested in what we’re doing behind the scenes, as well as other aspects of vRYR we’re working to make better for pilots. We touched on stats, routes, pilot engagement as well as events and the plan for the month.

It’s been a hectic year for us at vRYR so far, and August was no exception. We’ve re-branded, merged and recruited; with our focus on continuing to provide a great pilot experience.

At the end of August, we announced our plans to merge vLDM into vRYR; consolidating all our operations under one virtual airline. I’m pleased to announce, following the incredible work from the Ops Team and Route Managers, that the move is now complete! Pilots can now book LDM routes here at vRYR, and use the A320s on the selected routes. vLDM will remain open until Friday 4th September, so that you can continue to book and fly for both virtual airlines if you wish. Come Friday, vLDM will close and all operations will be handled at vRYR.

To handle the additional workload, and to continue striving for more accurate routes for you to book and fly, we have recruited seven more Route Managers in the last 10 days. Our Routes team are fundamental to how we operate and our drive for better routes. This couldn’t have happened without Elias, he spent most of his weeks selecting, training and setting on the new Route Managers and we are forever thankful for his support. If you’re interested in joining the vRYR Routes Team, working with Europe’s biggest virtual airline and serving 20,000 pilots, speak to Ian or Elias about the role.

While we’re on the topic of recruitment, we are also pleased to announce the launch of an all-new pilot engagement strategy, which involves the recruitment of 2x Community Managers. We mentioned back in August’s update that the vRYR team we’re focusing on community, operations and support; and the launch of the new roles will help us continue to manage and drive the vRYR community forward. Recruitment for Community Managers will begin from Thursday 3rd September for two weeks. We’ll be sending out more info to the Discord server on Thursday morning for those interested in taking their vRYR experience to the next level!

In August we launched our stand allocations project, where our pilots could submit Ryanair stand information for all our airports, and we’ve had over 200 submissions so far! Thank you for all your support. We’ll be adding these in the next couple of weeks.

There has been some confusion in the Discord server around how we’re operating routes through Coronavirus. Back in March we announced we wouldn’t cancel routes unlike our real-world airline. This gave us a situation where, due to the lack of flight data available, route updates were sparse and unmanageable. Almost six months on, we’ve been able to review our stance on route updates. We have decided to offer all the routes that would normally be available. If a country goes back into lockdown, if certain routes are suspended or airports close, then we will follow suit and suspend the relevant routes. With flight data more readily available for us to use, we feel now is the best time to build back more realism into our operations, and we believe this the best approach going forward.

If you’re not part of our Discord server and you would like to join, hit ‘Discord’ in the website navigation bar which will take you to the server. We highly recommend all pilots join the server and be part of our community. Introduce yourself to pilots and staff, share screenshots and live streams, raise issues or questions and be the first to hear about NOTAMs, events and tours.

It’s set to be another busy month for us at vRYR! We’ve got more events and tours on the way, as well as new ways for you to get involved here at Europe’s biggest virtual airline. For now, thank you for reading the September update!